Controlling means for vapor apparatus.



P. G. HEWITT;

CONTROLLING MEANS FOR VAPOR APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED Maw. 1905. 1,121,359. Patented D60.15,1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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P. C. HEWITT.

CONTROLLING MEANS FOR VAPOR APPARATUS.

APPLIOATION FILED JANJZO. 1906.

1,121,359, Patented De0.15,1914..

3SHEETS-SHEET 2.

( m uc I 1 tea P. O. HEWITT.

CONTROLLING MEANS FOR VAPOR APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN,20, 1905.

\ 1,121,359, Patented Dec.15,1914.

3 SHEETSSHBET 3.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PETER COOPER HEWITT, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGN OR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS,

T0 CCOPER HEWITT ELECTRIC COMPANY. OF HOBOKEN, NEXV JERSEY, A CORPORA- TION OENEW JERSEY.

CONTROLLING MEANS FOR VAPOR. APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed January '20, 1905. Serial No. 241,947.

for modifying the resistance to starting which resides at the negative electrode by a starting band, by which means the electrical potential required to start the lamp,

could be reduced or increased.

The object of the present invention is to render more diificult the starting of a .current into an electrode which for the time being may be negative; that is to say, to

- strengthen the normal initial resistanceto starting at a negative electrode. a I have found that under certain conditions the vapor in the neighborhood of the negative electrode of a vapor device, and particularly at a small distance from the surface thereof, is, before the current actually passes, charged inductively in a sense opposite, to the charge of the negative electrode itself, and not in the same sense. That is tosay, the vapor at a short distance from the surface of the negative electrode is charged positively as if by induction.

ppearances seem to indicate that the vapor in close proximity to the surface of the negative electrode so arranges itself that it acts as a dielectric While farther away it is capable of assuming a charge as if it were a conductor. For the purpose of the presend invention this apparent dielectric action may be considered the cause of the high initial reluctance or resistance to the passage of the current. As already stated the present invention concerns itself with amplifying this effect so as to still further increase this reluctance or resistance to starting.

For example, I have placed near the negative electrode an exploring disk or ring, and when the said disk or ring was charged negatively by means of a static machine the device occasionally started of itself, the terminals being connected with a continuous current circuit carrying a current of 110 discharge itself, the device started into op eration- By reason of these facts the ring may be made to still further increase the potential of the inductive effects from the negative electrode. The difficulty of startmg may be increased by causing the inductive effect of the ring to preponderate over the inductive effect of the current at the negative electrode, modifying it to a great extent, and may be used for assisting these reactions for useful purposes. Certain superimposed charges appear to lessen the tendency of a: negative electrode to disintegrate and thus assist in preventing the lowering of the reluctance or resistance to starting from this cause.

It appears from the discovery thus made that the vapor close to a negative electrode interposes between the said electrode and an electrode which is positive to it in an apparatus a dielectric condition which can be further increased by inducing a greater charge than that which the electrode itself would induce. this principle of operation by surrounding .an electrode or electrodes of a vapor apparatus or other vapor-device with a shield capable of receiving a charge that will augment or assist the charge which would naturally be present at a negative electrode. The device for producing this charge may be any suitable device, but is herein illustrated as a transformer of small current capacity but of higher potential than that at the negative, and is connected to shields thereby assisting the charge. The action is not essentially that of current flowing but more nearly that of capacity charged to the required potential. The shield when properly connected electrically has the effect of increasing the starting resistance at an electrode being negative for the time being to another positive and thus tending to assist.

in preventing current passing between. these electrodes.

In this high potential circuit a condenser Patented Dec. 15 1914.

I propose to make use ofmay be introduced in order to actually limit the other of them is temporarily a negative the flow of more thana specific amount of current and further the neutral points of other words, under the peculiar conditions of materials and manufacture used, there .are instances where the actual reversal of the operation described will tend to take place so that under particular conditions to get at the results desired it becomes necessary to connect the apparatus here shown in the one sense, in the other sense to obtain results. These conditions may be considered as abnormal; and are to be avoided by further cleansing and exhaustion for the removal of the cause, except in instances where such abnormal conditions are desirable. Incidentally the 'shieldsmay constitute chambers inclosing the various electrodes and.

thus serve to screen the said electrodes from the effects of certain discharge when one or electrode and another a positive electrode. The shield surrounding a given positlve electrode may be made to substantially inclose the electrode or not as is found most practical in use or may be made wholly or in part of conducting material.

I have illustrated my invention in the accompanying drawings, in which-- Figures 1 and 2 represent mercury vapor converters each provided with two positive electrodes with shields,'it being desired that current shall not pass from one of these electrodes to the other and showing. also diagrams of a system of electrical circuits which may be employed with the apparatus; Figs 3 and 4; represent modifications in which condensers are employed; and F ig. 5 illustrates still another modification adapted to direct current.

In the drawings, 1 is a container for a vapor converter; 2 is the negativeelectrode thereof, the same being in the present instance of,-mercury;'- and 3 and 4: are positive electrodes of some solid material, such as iron. In this instance the positive elecvand its lead-wire.

trodes 3 and 4 are each surrounded by a shield or screen, 5, of sheet metal, gauze, or

wire forming a chamber around the elec- 1 trode. The shield or screen thus described is of conducting material, but is insulated :from'the corresponding positive electrode In the preferred construction, the shields are supported upon inwardly projecting or rentrant supports, 6.

6, formed of the glass which constitutes the material of the container 1. The lead-wires, 7 and 8, for the positive electrodes 3 and 4 pass through these lugs without maklng contact with the shields.

In the .form illustrated in Fig. 2 the shields are made of thin sheet metal. They are'in this instance sealed to the supports 6, 6 and they may be provided at their opposite ends with smaller or larger openings, 9, 9. That is to say, the screens or shields may, if desired, be made to substantially inclose the electrodes, or they may be open to the interior of the container. By this it is meant that the openings, 9, 9, may either be made so small as to present a practically prohibitive resistance to the passage of current through the openings or may be made larger so as to prevent varying of resistance thereto, according to the size of the openings.

Screens or shields such asherein described serve to increase the normal resistance to starting between the positive electrodes and also to reduce the danger of short-circuiting between the positive electrodes 3 and 4. Thus, the apparatus is adapted to work with greater certainty.

Referring now to the electrical connections, I show in Fig. 1 asystem of circuits which may be conveniently utilized in the operation of. a converter having my improvements applied. thereto.

At 10 and 11 are shownthe mains of an alternating current circuit, between which mains is connected a coil, 12, as shown. Between the same mains I may include the primary, 13, of a small transformer, the secondary of which appears at 14. This transformer is ofhigh ,resistance and high voltage and the terminals of its secondary are connected one to each of the shields or screens 5,:3. The. mains are connected to the two'positive electrodes 3 and 4, while the negative electrode is joined by a conductor, 15, through a work-circuit including translating devices, 16, to an intermediate point of the coil, 12.

At 117 and 18 I have shown connections extending between the neutral points of adjacent coils to provide for maintaining uniformity of action where necessary.

By the means described, a charge of high potential is applied to the screens or shields,

5, 5, while the working current, or the cur- 7 rent which is to be translated into direct current is applied-to the positive electrodes 3 and 4- and to the negative electrode 2.

The operation will be readily understood, the function of the shields 5, 5, having been already explainedin the foregoing part of the specification. I

So far as the advantages which pertain to the use of the shields as screens are concerned, the shields might be made of insulating material. That is to say, the function of protecting the electrodes from the effects of discharges when one of the positive electrodes is temporarily negative with respect to any other electrode, the int-aiposi- 7 each shield through a condenser.

The same general arrangement for an electrode may be used in connection with direct current circuits as well as with alternating current circuits as described above. That isto say in cases where it is desired to strengthen the negative. electrode starting resistance in devices where this characteristic is utilized to perform useful functions in connection with direct current circuits this result can be accomplished by shielding the negative electrode in the manner already described in this application. Such. an arrangement is shown in Fig. 5 wherein the like numbered parts are the equivalent of these partsin. the other figures. It will be seen that the D. C. generator 119 normally passes current through the anode 3 to the cathode 2' and thence through the storage battery 120 backto the generator. The shield 5 corresponding to. the shield 5 of the other figures is connected to the lead of the electrode 3 through a condenser 17 as in Fig. 3. This shield when thus connected will serve to protect the negative electrode starting reluctance of the anode 3, should, for example,

the electro-motive force of the generator 119, fall below the voltage of the battery 120, and the latter tend to reverse the current through the rectifier l. The short circuiting' switch 121 serves to make a direct connection between the shield 5 and the lead.

of the electrode 3 when desired, thus eliminating the effect of the condenser, which would otherwise limit current flow to the shield. The operation of this figure is otherwise as described for the previous figures.

Fig. 5' illustrates a condition similar to the condition of Fig. 3 described above.

In Figs. 3 and 4 I have illustrated condensers which may be employed with apparatus of this class, as set forth in a preceding paragraph of this application.

The condensers are illustrated at 17, 17 i in Figs. 3 and 4, and their action is to limit current How to the shields. When considering the more unusual condition in which the common action is reversed the connections of the condenser shields should be as shown in Fig. 3. In the more usual conditions. they should be as shown in Fig. 4.

I claim as'my invention I I. The method, of increasing the res "plication of current throughthe-terminals of the apparatus. v l

The method of increasing the resistance to starting at an electrode which is negative with relation to another electrode in a vapor electrode device, which consists in inducing at the said electrode a normal charge by the application of current to the terminals and also inducing in the vapor a charge from a separate source.

4. The method of increasing the resistance to starting-at an electrode which is negative with relation to another electrode in a vapor electric device, which consists in inducing at thesaid electrode a normal charge by the application of current to the terminals of the device and also inducing a vapor charge higherltha'n the charge thus induced. I

5. The method of preventing short circuiting between positive electrodes which consists in withdrawing electrical energy from an independent source transmitting such. energy to the immediate neighborhood of each. of the positive electrodes and producluctanee to such entrance and reinforcing such reluctance by producing'through means iiujlependent ofthc main positive electrodes a local charge at a potential higher than the normal. f I

8. The method of increasing the resist ance to starting at an electrode which is negativewith relation to another electrode in a vapor electric device, which consists in utilizing in combination the normal eluctance existing at such electrode and an 11. In a vapor apparatus having a plurality of positive electrodes, the method of preventing short circuiting between any two positive electrodes, which consists in assisting the charge and discharge of the vapor at i said electrodes by separately applying electromotive force to the vapor.

Signed at New York, in. the county of New York and State of New York, this- 16th day of January, A. D. 1905.

I PETER COOPER HEWI' .T.

\Vitnesses VM. H. CAPEL, GEORGE H. STOCKBRIDGE. 

